Family Photos - Its Broken

As we feared, Can's leg is broken. Mom took him to the doctor's yesterday for an X-ray. One of the bones in his lower leg is cracked all of the way through. It is quite a long break as it is split diagonally across the bone. I didn't see the X-ray but Mom said that the bone is separated at the bottom part of the fracture. He has been quite a trooper through it so far, although he is whining right now because it hurts and because he cannot get himself around. He just has to sit and cry for things.

Family Photos - Cheeky Boy

Decl had a visit to the dentist's office on Wednesday to get a cavity filled. While his mouth was numb he bit the inside of his cheek pretty badly and now it is all swollen. He complained about it hurting badly on Wednesday, but I think that it wasn't as painful yesterday.

In other news, Can was playing at the park yesterday and hurt his foot/leg. It seemed pretty sensitive and he wouldn't put any weight on it last night. Our nurse friend suggested that we give him some ibuprofin and see how he is today. If he still won't stand on it, Mom is going to take him to the doctor. I update when I find out more.

Mad's autobiography

Mad had to write an autobiography for a school project. He wanted to print out some pictures of himself to illustrate his chapters but had a hard time finding any where he wasn't making a funny face.

For years now we have been telling him that he shouldn't make faces every time we take his picture but he just took that as encouragement to look goofier. Now that he has to show his classmates pictures of himself, he is concerned that he looks silly. Oh well. We managed to get a few pictures that I took when he wasn't looking.

Family Photos - Two of Four

Can and Dec on my lap (taken 03/17/2007)

Why I still like President Bush

Stories like this explain why I still stand behind President Bush. I know that he has made mistakes. Tell me a president that hasn't. But he governs based on principles that don't change based on the latest poll. He tries to do what he thinks is right and best for the country.

Images - climbing vine

We couldn't find any leprechauns but some of the vines in the forest are starting to put on their green. (taken 03/17/07).

Family Photos - leprechaun

Dec decided that he needed to make himself pinch proof yesterday, since it was Saint Patrick's day. I'm not sure where he got the idea but he wanted to go on a leprechaun hunt. I told Dec that he looked like a leprechaun himself but I couldn't get him to lead me to his pot of gold, so we decided to go tromping through the woods behind our house in hopes of locating one of the little fellows. We never saw any leprechauns but we had some fun jumping streams and knocking over dead trees.

Not my best week

Last week was not my favorite. I have to say that I'm glad it is over. After the indoor rain last week, I used a lot of silicone caulking and a new bathtub spout, but I managed to repair the bathtub. Now I just have a hole in the bathroom wall and some water stains on the sunroom ceiling to fix.

We finally decided to try and buy tickets for our trip to Utah and found that prices had gone up substantially. This left me feeling pretty down, and I was dreading telling my kids that we couldn't afford to visit grandparents this summer. Then on Thursday we found a really good deal. We decided that this was an answer to prayers and we decided to buy the tickets before it was too late. Whew. That is a relief.

Two weeks ago I was asked if I would present my research at a seminar on March 19th. I agreed to do this and spent all last week getting the slides ready for the presentation. Yesterday I got a flier for the seminar and my name was not on it. I emailed the administrator to ask if I was supposed to present and she told me that she forgot that I had accepted, so she scheduled someone else. I can't say that I'm completely disappointed not to have to present in front of a bunch of other people, but it was a little frustrating to waste all of that time getting ready for a seminar that I don't have to give.

Images - Tongue Wagging

Can (2) took this picture of Dec acting silly at the American Tobacco trail. (taken 03/10/07)

Images - Green Creek

From the woods near the American Tobacco Trail (taken 03/10/07).

Images - Spring Blossoms

More blossoms from the Bradford Pear tree. Lighting adjusted for effect (taken 03/14/07)

Images - My brother the pillow

The other day Dec and Can were watching TV when I came home from work.
Can had obviously not had a nap and Dec thought he looked like a soft
and cuddly pillow. I thought it was cute.

Image - Spring is Here

This morning these blossoms decided to burst forth on our Bradford pear tree (taken 03/14/07)

Images - Treebeard the Ent

The trees are watching you.
(taken 3/10/07 at the American Tobacco Trail)

What a day

Not a lot of good to report from today. We woke up to get ready for church and while Mom took a shower I went down to get breakfast for the boys. I heard dripping and thought that it was raining outside until I saw the water dripping from the ceiling in the office/sun room. I quickly got the shower turned off, but the water kept flowing from the ceiling. I had done some minor repair work on the pipe leading into the bathtub water spout last night so that there wouldn't be a gap between the spout and the shower wall, but hadn't done anything that should have lead to all of the water in my ceiling. When it kept coming after turning off the shower my first thought was that I had somehow broken a weak plumbing connection, because I couldn't figure out where all of the water was coming from. I turned off the main water inlet but still a lot of dripping. I cut a hole in the water behind the tub to see where the water was coming from and turned the main water back on, but couldn't see any leaks. As it is, the only thing I can think is that a rough spot on the water pipe prevented a good seal with the water spout, which lead to water spraying back through the hole in the wall when the shower was turned on. There was so much water coming from the ceiling that I just couldn't believe this was the problem. I sanded the pipe to improve the seal, put huge gob of silicone caulking around the pipe to plug the hole in the shower wall and then put the spout back on. I haven't tried it yet because I wanted to wait until the caulk dries and I have to admit that I'm a little scared to turn the water on. Hopefully things won't leak, but I still have a hole in the wall and a wet ceiling.

As if this weren't enough for one day, we were invited to have desert with some friends. Just as we were getting ready to leave, the chair I was sitting on collapsed underneath me and punched a hole in their wall. I know that I can stand to lose a few pounds but I didn't realize that I was smash a chair overweight. Our friends tried to assure me that it wasn't really my fault and they had had problems with the chairs before, but I think that they were just trying to make me fell better.

Right about now I'm ready to head to bed in hopes that tomorrow is better than today.

Images - Buddies

Dec and Can taking a break during our American Tobacco Trail run/walk/bike trip. (taken 03/09/07)

Images - Left in the Dust

Can had to watch as Dec sped away down the trail. We went out for a family run/bike ride on the American Tobacco trail today. Mom ran 7 miles. I only ran one, jogged one and walked two, but I've only been run/walking for two weeks. My time on the mile was 8:07. Pretty slow, but it was my first timed mile in a long, long time, so hopefully I will improve. (taken 03/10/07)

Images - Dec Swinging

Dec Swinging in the backyard.

"Abortion is better for the baby" Huh?

I was listening to the Michael Medved show yesterday and he was talking about another report that denigrates marriage as a just a quaint tradition of the past and a trifle for the rich. The report is based on a skewed interpretation of statistics which show that wealthier people tend to get married. As Michael points out, the more accurate interpretation of these results is that those who get married tend to do better financially.

While taking calls, the discussion turned to children born out of wedlock. Then a girl called in who said that she had been living with her boyfriend for two years before finding out that she was pregnant. She stated that after weighing her options, "The best thing for both me, my boyfriend and ultimately the baby was to have an abortion." Am I missing something here? How is abortion ever better for the baby? What she should have said is that she and her boyfriend are so selfish that it was better to kill a baby than to take any personal responsibility for their actions. Instead, she tries to make it sound like she is doing something noble for the baby by sacrificing it's life.

Those icky Mormons

An article by Alex Beam of the Boston Globe explains why he thinks that a Mormon, Mitt Romney, could not be elected as the President of the Unites States. He attempts to cast a shadow on Mitt Romney and all Mormons, but really only ends up rambling through a few stale "insights" into Mormon theology, doctrines and history. It was a pretty poor attempt to slander the church, but I found a couple of quotes amusing.

"The Salt Lake City-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as the Mormons call themselves"

Like we are really "The Mormons" but just refer to ourselves by some other name. Alex Beam, as the Anti-mormon calls himself.

Another good quote.

On the plus side, Romney and many observant Mormons seem to lead exemplary, enviable, and productive lives centered on the traditional nuclear family.

We only "seem to" lead exemplary lives. Don't be fooled by the appearance that the Mormons are an enviable and productive people. The really only "seem to" lead exemplary lives. They really believe that founding prophet Joseph Smith received a "revelation that the Garden of Eden was in Independence, Mo., and that Jesus Christ visited America shortly after his resurrection." How shocking.

I kept expecting the author to say, "Don't tell anyone, but do you know what I heard about the Mormons?" Maybe he should have submitted it as a fourth grade language arts essay.

Mark Steyn summed up Mr. Beam's hightly intelectual rationale as:

"The Mormon church creeps out Mrs and Mrs America. It’s all just too freaky weirdy icky."

Mark also provides some interesting information about LDS population and demographic statistics.